GIST: "Here's the thing: medical terrorism has always been used to perpetuate and enforce racist assumptions about Black women and their bodies.
Look no further than James Marion Sims, also known as the "Father of Gynecology." Sims regularly performed forced surgeries, without anesthesia, on enslaved women under the guise of science.
Followers of this work embraced notions that Black women had a higher tolerance for pain when receiving medical treatment while ignoring that these women were forcibly restrained under threat of death for these procedures. Such stereotypes have informed contemporary medical racism.
Today, Black women in the United States face a maternal health crisis. Regardless of factors like higher education or financial means, Black mothers are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes than white mothers -- the widest of all racial disparities in women's health. These deaths are preventable, and their causes are rooted in structural racism, not race.
As a result, Black pregnant people are exponentially more likely to experience devastating pregnancy outcomes. There are hundreds of pregnant people who've been criminalized and arrested for actions that include things like taking legal drugs prescribed by their doctor, having a miscarriage, addiction, getting into a car accident, and even falling down the stairs.
Harold, we're fighting back, but first, we need your help. Now is your chance to take your support to the next level. Because with your help, we can continue to put pressure on prosecutors and elected officials who have the power to ensure no one is thrown in jail based on a pregnancy outcome.
When our people get access to the reproductive healthcare we need, we thrive.
That starts with demanding the solutions that will aid in the healing and prioritization of our reproductive autonomy. This includes a world in which our people are treated with dignity, and free to make choices about our own bodies.
We deserve meaningful options regarding where, how, and with whom we will give birth, in a person-centered, anti-racist model of care. We deserve the support of midwives, doulas, and perinatal services that are fully integrated into the maternal care system. Law enforcement including prosecutors has no place in pregnancy decisions. With your help, we can continue our fight calling on them to say NO to criminalizing Black mothers.
Until justice is real."
The entire release can be read at:
